Vintage TV channel - does it still exist on Freeview?

Fogmatic

I wondered what Freeview TV channels there were for music (if any), and a web search came up with one for a classic rock etc called Vintage TV, on channel 82. It wasn't on that channel for me, so I scrolled through the whole lot but it wasn't there. And its website didn't seem to have any very recent entries.

Anyone know if it's been discontinued? (If not, I'll try some rescanning).

Johnboy1951

First hit to a search ....

On 17 May 2018, Vintage TV was removed from Freesat, with the channel blaming "carriage costs" for the removal. [10] Vintage TV was then removed from Freeview on 2 August 2018. [11] Lastly, the channel was removed on Virgin Media and Sky on 7 August 2018. The channel later claimed that following talks with Sky it had been "offered a new deal to return to the platform" [12] but eventually on 17 October 2018, it was confirmed that the channel had gone into administration.[13]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vintage_TV_(TV_channel)

Fogmatic

Thanks Johnboy.

Thought I had seen a Wikipedia entry about it, but whatever it was said Vintage TV 'is', not 'was'. (Must have been my search terms, or maybe a redundant entry still hanging round).

I have an internet radio - it's just that the TV has fuller sound (its built-in speakers were abysmal, and I got it a pair of fairly good ones, but it doesn't do internet).

Johnboy1951

Fogmatic wrote: »

Thanks Johnboy.

Thought I had seen a Wikipedia entry about it, but whatever it was said Vintage TV 'is', not 'was'. (Must have been my search terms, or maybe a redundant entry still hanging round).

I have an internet radio - it's just that the TV has fuller sound (its built-in speakers were abysmal, and I got it a pair of fairly good ones, but it doesn't do internet).

There are a lot of radio stations on the Astra satellite if you have access.

BTW, what era is the 'vintage' music from that you want to listen to?

Fogmatic

Thanks for the tip about Astra, Johnboy. We've never had any satellite dish, but I'll look into it again. (We were lucky enough to get spillover UK radio & TV reception on analogue and digital, and I haven't given much thought to satellite since early struggles to get on the internet!).

Re music we like, it's a long story but basically it's popular music but not the 'easy listening' kind. Mainly pre-1990s, and mainly rock, R&B, early blues artists, Ska, and other world music. I'm also into modern jazz.

I couldn't find many relevant internet radio suggestions on the web, and have started exploring with the radio itself, but it's a long job (even with eliminating the ones not broadcasting during our day). For instance I started on the 'Blues' genre, working down the A-Z list, but what's been lumped together under Blues seems to be almost anything. Having got through a lot of A's (Yellow Pages style), I've got as far as Blues and Roots Radio, which was more like it (most days there's some programme we like). (Even getting to C will take a lot of spare moments!).

As for jazz, apart from a couple of weekly BBC programmes, so far I only know the London station Jazz FM, which is on Freeview as well. But that's got more and more 'easy listening' over the years. (I expect the Internet radio Jazz genre is even more vague than the Blues one!).

Johnboy1951

TBH I find an internet radio great for a few stations I have preset, otherwise it is frustrating (to me)

I mostly use my PC or other such device for internet radio.
If you can find an application that uses this resource
http://www.radio-browser.info
I think you will find most everything you need.

I use Gradio on my Linux install, and at times 'radiotray' amongst others.
Gradio has a search entry .... enter Blues and I get 50 results (limited to 50 I think).
Regarding Jazz have you heard of Abacus Smooth Jazz ... also London I think .... and another I came across Best Smooth Jazz (London again).
Lots of stations from around the world pushing out some good stuff.
There are other resources for internet radio also which might be of more interest.

dxhound2005

Radio Garden lets you select stations in different places. Very random, but you might find something of interest.

https://radio.garden/

Fogmatic

Thanks for all that info, Johnboy! I'll look into those resources.
Think I'll look into internet radio via Android phone, as choosing stations would be easier that way (then all I'd have to do in the radio is add a preset when I've found a good station).

Thank you for the jazz station suggestions, but unfortunately 'smooth' isn't what I was looking for. (Any suggestions for a keyword meaning the opposite would be gratefully received!).

Thanks for reminding me about Radio Garden, dxhound. It rang a bell, and I'd seen it on my computer years ago, but the computer wasn't in a handy enough place for listening. But it will be a useful site now. Yes, it's random re music genres, but we do sometimes wonder what's on air in Jamaica for instance! And who knows what we might stumble on that we haven't heard before.

Johnboy1951

Maybe this will give you some ideas for terminology ...... click the pic for larger view. This is a sample of what I get in Gradio as mentioned above.

Fogmatic

Forgot to say thanks, Johnboy (got sidetracked by a separate home entertainment problem)!

Unfortunately I was unable to get the image you posted clear enough to read the genres. But I've now found a phone app that should be all I need for a while, called AccuRadio. It means that if we feel like a particular type of music, we won't need to know what stations to go to. It has playlists (compiled by enthusiasts, by the look of it) to select from by genre. Quite a long list of them to start with, and then more inside each one, for instance, 30-odd varieties of Classic Rock. In the case of jazz, Jazz and Smooth Jazz are separate items in the main list, and Jazz has about 70 varieties! Or you can choose a decade (with genres inside them). Or a country (ditto). It's an Android phone app I have.(it might have other platforms - I don't know).

So I think we'll be be all right for mood music (once I've sorted bluetooth reception for our stereo or speakers). It'll still be interesting to discover internet radio stations (music's not the only thing we're interested in listening to). But we can do that more gradually now.

Johnboy1951

I am glad you found a solution that suits you

On the matter of the clarity of picture I posted ....... I click on the image on the post and a new tab opens.
A larger version of the pic displays in the new tab, and after a short delay that pic updates to a higher resolution.
I guess the delay would be dependent on the speed of your internet connection.
All the text in the pic is readable at the higher resolution.

Anyway you are all sorted so it hardly matters